Montana Mansion

Miscommunication

Willa's POV:

I sat up in bed with a yawn. "Mhm?" I answered the persistent knock at my door.

"Morning," Philby creaked open the door and flashed me a winning smile as he shut it behind him. "You sleep okay?"

"Well enough, considering," I wiped my eyes with my fists, trying to wake up. "Have you checked on Charlie yet?"

Philby shook his head, coming over to the foot of my bed and smoothing out the covers before sitting down. "I'm sure she's fine."

"I hope so," I tucked my knees up to my chest underneath the blankets. "That was crazy! It completely came out of nowhere." I scrunched up my nose. "Maybe I should go check on her."

"Nah," Philby scooted up next to me, leaning back against the headboard. "Finn can handle it."

I gnawed on my lip, tracing my jaw nervously with my left hand. "You're probably right."

"No," Philby grabbed my hand, pressing it between his own and the mattress, "I'm definitely right."

I smiled, turning and tipping my head to lean it against the headboard. "About everything except Lord of the Rings being better than Harry Potter."

"You're right," Philby admitted solemnly before grinning wickedly at me. "You're just wrong about that one."

Amanda's POV:

"Jess?" I whispered across the room to my sister. "Jess?"

"What?" she growled in response, her face burrowed into her pillow. 

"Are you awake?" I breathed, my voice hardly audible. 

"No. I'm talking in my sleep. Don't wake me up."

I flopped back over onto my back. "She was faking, wasn't she?"

"What makes you say that?" I heard Jess's covers rustle as she sat up.

"Well I mean, I don't know that much about fainting but I'm pretty sure it doesn't just hit you like that."

"It can sometimes."

"Yeah but isn't that usually when you're sick or something? Or have low blood sugar?"

"Why don't you ask Char? She'd know better than me."

"Yeah, like she'd tell me the truth," I huffed, swinging my legs over the side of the bed and standing up. 

"Who knows?" Jess shrugged. "She might." 

I raised my eyebrows at her, heading over to the dresser and pulling out a pair of jeans. "Charlene? I mean, come on Jess. That girl is like a steel fortress."

"Never hurts to ask," Jess got up as well and came up behind me to snatch a tee shirt out of the top drawer. 

"You've got to have an opinion on all of this," I tugged off my pajama pants and tossed them to the side. "You've got an opinion on everything!"

"Well," Jess sighed as she dug through the bottom drawer. "Just think about it. What reason would she have for pretending to pass out?"

"Duh," I wiggled into my jeans, holding my breath to zip them up. "She didn't want to do the dare."

"Okay..." Jess trailed off. "Why wouldn't she want to do the dare?"

"She didn't want to kiss Philby?" I said patronizingly as I swung open the closet doors and pulled out my pink blouse. "Can you toss me my bra?"

"The white one?"

"Whatever you've got in your hands is fine," I replied. A pair of leggings hit the side of my head. I flashed my sister my finest stank eye before chucking the pants back at her. "Yes, the white one."

"Here," Jess tossed it at me gently, giggling.

"Thanks," I rolled my eyes, snapping front clasp in place. "But anyway. You think she just didn't want to kiss Philby? Pretending to pass out seems a little bit too dramatic for that, even for Charlene."

"It does," Jess agreed, jumping up and down as she struggled to squeeze into her leggings. "But I'm pretty sure there's more to it."

"Like what?" I dove through the neck hole of my shirt, almost falling forward into the closet's door jam.

"I don't know. Think about it."

"Oh sure," I replied sarcastically. "I've just been counting sheep over here." I grabbed a pair of golden hoops off of the top of the dresser and threaded them into my ears. When Jess didn't respond I begged, "Just tell me, Jess. What do you think?"

"That you should just ask Charlene," she said just before she walked out of the door, leaving me to puzzle over everything. I dumped Finn, Charlene hooked up with Finn, Maybeck dared Charlene to kiss Philby. Okay, what do I know about these people? Finn loves Charlene. Charlene loves Finn. Maybeck loves Charlene. "Oh my gosh," I gasped, clapping my hand to my mouth and letting go of my half way done french braid. 

I ran out the my bedroom and shoved past Jess in the hallway, sprinting all the way to the Gypsy Cove. 

Maybeck's POV:

I was sitting on the floor chatting amicably with Charlene and Finn when all of a sudden the overhead light flashed on and Amanda appeared, screaming. "How dare you try to break them up?"

I snapped my neck around to look at Amanda. "What?" I squinted as my eyes adjusted to the sudden change in light. 

"Daring Charlene to kiss Philby? I mean come on," she crossed her arms, glaring daggers at me. "Could you be more obvious?"

I glanced over at Charlene who was frozen in place. Her eyes were even wider than they were last night. She was completely panicked. I knew right then that I had to cover for her. "Well yeah. You would have been able to figure it out last night."

Finn recoiled, looking at me in horror. "Are you kidding me, man?" I looked to Charlene who was still frozen in time, staring at me. I crawled over to her feet and grabbed her hand from her lap. "I hope you can forgive me. I'm just," I glanced away in an effort to look more genuine. "I'm in love with you, Charlene Turner."

Still, she didn't move or react in any way. Finn, however, did. He quickly yanked her towards himself, knocking my hand from hers. "I can't believe you."

"I, I, I'm sorry," I stammered, holding my head in my hands and looking at the floor in an effort to look ashamed. "I shouldn't have done it."

"You're damn right you shouldn't have done it," Charlene seemed to startle to life. Finn, Amanda and I jumped, all staring at her. Charlene? Curse? Unheard of. She shook her head exasperatedly. "How could you?"

"I, uh," I stuttered. "I'm sorry."

"Seriously?" she glared at me. "'I'm sorry?'?  That's the best you can come up with?"

I opened my mouth to speak but she held up a hand. "I can't even look at you right now." She stood headed towards the door, climbing down the ladder. Before her head disappeared, however, I caught her mouth 'thank-you' to me.